That final week: a lot of love (and expect some hate)

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

A branch can only bear fruit if it is attached to the vine.

If it becomes detached from the vine, the life source, it will wither and die.

Any branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off and thrown into the fire, for what use is a branch that does not do what it was created to do?

All branches will be pruned, so that they will become more fruitful.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. John 15:1

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

Jesus knows that he is soon to leave this life and leave his followers. They’re beginning to grasp that too.

These are words of grounding, an illustration of the importance of staying grounded in the source of light and love and life.

But what does that mean? How are Jesus’ followers to ‘remain in him’? What does that look like in practice?

You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?

Love. Love is the answer. Love is always the answer.

Their love for Jesus will lead to trust and it will lead to obedience.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:9-14

It all starts with love: God’s love for His one and only son. That perfect love demonstrated for us by God and Jesus. God is love.

Jesus loves us. It is in the light of this love that we are to live and to love. We are to remain in his love, be grounded in his love for us. That’s the starting place in our lives: to know what it is to be loved, to feel loved, to know that we are loved.

Jesus remained at the centre of God’s love by practising trust and obedience.

We also are to remain at the centre of Jesus’ love by practising trust and obedience. This is not a conditional love. Jesus won’t stop loving us if we do not do what he says. His love is an everlasting love. Nothing can separate us from Jesus’ love for us. But if we don’t live in the way we were created to live, our relationship with Jesus suffers. All our relationships suffer, including our relationship with ourselves. We start to drift away from that source of truth and life. We lose that grounding in love and light and love.

And so we are to love one another as we are loved. To love with a sacrificial love. A sacrificial love that leads to joy, joy beyond measure.

Jesus’ way is the way of joy. Living life to the full brings with it the joy of living exactly as we were created to live. The complete joy that comes from feeling completely aligned with our purpose within the greater purpose of the universe.

However, Jesus goes on to warn his followers that it’s not always going to be easy. As a follower of Jesus, each one of them might end up being treated as Jesus was treated. Just as the world hated Jesus, his followers can expect to be hated too. Just as the world persecuted Jesus, his followers can expect to be persecuted to.

This should come as no surprise.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  John 15:19

If we choose to live a different way – God’s way – with different values – God’s values -, then that’s a direct challenge to the way the world is set up and all the things that the world values…worldly success and ambition, greed, materialism, individualism and selfishness, instant gratification. The people around us are going to feel directly challenged by the way we are trying to do it differently and they’re not going to like that. And so expect to be teased and challenged and mocked and disapproved of and marginalised and even hated – how could it ever have been any different? By the way that we’re living, we’re telling people they’re getting it all wrong. No one is going to like that, are they? We can see it as signposting a better way, God’s way, the best way for any human to be fully human, but there’s an inherent criticism there, isn’t there? People don’t like that. So expect some negative comeback. And keep loving and living.

Always keep loving and living.

Stay grounded in Jesus’ love for you.

Come back to that every single day.